Matthew 28

Matthew 28 The whole chapter has a grand unity and simplicity. First of all it's strong on the negative before the wonderfully positive Great Commission. So let's go through it briefly. Verse one. After the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. Well, that's extraordinarily undramatic.

All that is said is that they went to look at the tomb and it doesn't seem they had any other purpose or expected anything else.

Then the first denial and then the second denial, I'll read them both. The first denial. There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, don't be afraid, for I know you're looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here.

Here is the first denial. He is not here, he has risen just as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead and gone ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you. So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy and ran to tell his disciples.

Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings.” They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee where they will see me. So they find him alive, they acknowledge him as Lord and they're to go to his brothers and say he is alive. That's the first great denial, summed up in a few words in verse six. He is not here. That is the purpose of the paragraph. That is the angelic message. Don't look here because he is not here.

Then the second denial is in verses 11 to 15. While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them you are to say his disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep. If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So the soldiers took the money, no doubt gladly, and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

So that's the second denial. Here are two great denials. He is not here, the body has gone. These two paragraphs are there to say quite simply the negative fact that Jesus is no longer in the tomb.

Then comes the positive. The negative having been firmly established, now comes the positive read. Then the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. And when they saw him, they worshipped him. Now you see he is Lord of glory, no longer a dead man.

But some doubted, a delightful little touch, so realistic. Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I've commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. So what does that tell us? Quite simply, first, all authority in heaven and earth belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's impossible to state his position as Lord more clearly than that. There's no other authority. Jesus is Lord.

He is not one among others, he is the Lord God himself. Secondly, all nations must now bow before him. That is the whole world. He's not come now for a nation, but for a world. He is Lord therefore and Lord of all. And this Lord will be with his people to the end of time.

It's really meant to be, I think, a very simple chapter saying the one who was in the tomb is now recognized to be the Lord of glory and naturally he's worshipped as God. At the start of chapter 28, a body in a tomb. At the end, the Lord of glory worshipped by his people. At the start it seemed to be the end of the story. At the conclusion in Matthew 28, it's the beginning of a story that never ends.

Matthew therefore by definition is a missionary gospel. The Lord who is to be worshipped by the whole world.

The whole world. The whole world. The whole world.